The consequences of unchecked immigration policies are clear: rising levels of crime, exploitation, and violence. It's time to reevaluate our approach and prioritize the safety of our communities.
The recent arrest of an undocumented immigrant in connection with the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, occurring just weeks prior to President Joe Biden’s 2024 State of the Union address, has sparked significant political controversy. Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp asserted that “Laken’s death is the direct result of federal policies and the current administration's failure to secure the southern border.” This statement followed revelations that border patrol had apprehended Venezuelan national Jose Ibarra in 2022, only to have him swiftly paroled and released into the United States. In response to the situation, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump cautioned against a surge of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. During the State of the Union address, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene interrupted Biden, demanding he “say her name,” referring to Riley. When Biden acknowledged her, he confirmed that she was killed by an undocumented migrant, which led to further backlash when he later expressed regret for using the term “illegal” instead of the more accepted “undocumented.”
In defense of Biden, prominent media outlets dismissed the notion of a migrant crime wave as unfounded, citing older studies from Texas that suggested low crime rates among undocumented individuals. However, this perspective overlooked more recent surveys utilizing federal multistate data that reveal a concerning trend. Following years of increased migration at the border, with numerous asylum-seekers inadequately screened and permitted entry into the U.S., state law enforcement agencies now report that immigrant gangs have taken control of various drug and human trafficking operations, contributing to a rise in robberies nationwide. With public opinion polls indicating widespread concern over illegal immigration—many Americans even supporting mass deportations—Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin echoed this sentiment, stating that “every state” has become “a border state.”
The growing debate surrounding immigration in the United States is largely driven by the significant influx of migrants during the Biden administration. During a debate with Donald Trump in 2020, Biden appeared to advocate for an increase in immigration, a trend that materialized shortly after his election. Estimates suggest that approximately 8 million individuals have arrived at the U.S. border without prior legal entry applications. The administration has allowed around 3.3 million of these migrants to remain in the country while they await immigration hearings, many of which are not scheduled to take place for several years. Concurrently, the number of individuals who have entered the country by circumventing border security and are now residing illegally has surged, with estimates ranging from 1.6 million to 1.7 million since Biden took office, compared to about 1.4 million over the entire preceding decade.
Despite the increase in illegal immigration, the number of deportations for those convicted or accused of crimes has significantly decreased. In 2021, the number of illegal immigrants deported due to criminal accusations or convictions dropped to 45,432, a stark decline from the peak of 123,128 in 2019, as reported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The following year, ICE removed only 46,400 individuals. Additionally, prosecutions of illegal immigrants for criminal offenses have decreased by two-thirds, falling from 6,739 in 2019 to a mere 2,208 in 2022.
This decline in deportations and prosecutions does not indicate a reduction in criminal activity among immigrants. Shortly after assuming office, the Biden administration revised the criteria for the removal of criminal aliens, stipulating that only those considered an immediate threat to public safety would be expelled. This policy allowed many individuals, including those with felony convictions, to remain in the country. Furthermore, the requirement for extensive investigations into individual cases, coupled with the surge in border crossings, has overwhelmed immigration services. The situation is evident in the statistics: the caseload for immigration removal operations has escalated from approximately 3 million in 2019 to 6 million under Biden in 2023, while the staffing levels have remained unchanged.
In light of recent events, a series of notable crimes—including the murder of Riley, an assault on NYPD officers by a group of immigrants in Times Square, and police warnings regarding foreign home-invasion gangs targeting affluent neighborhoods—have heightened discussions regarding the extent of crime attributed to the surge of immigrants during the Biden administration. Many in the mainstream media and immigration advocates contend that conservatives are exaggerating these issues. Articles with titles such as “The Myth of the Migrant Crime Wave,” “Migrant Crime Wave Not Supported by Data,” and “Immigrants Are Less Likely to Commit Crimes” have proliferated, particularly following Trump's decision to make immigrant crime a focal point of his 2024 campaign.
A significant number of these narratives are based on research, such as a 2020 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which analyzed data from 2012 to 2018 provided by Texas’s Department of Public Safety. This study concluded that undocumented immigrants commit crimes at a rate approximately two-thirds that of legal residents. However, critics argue that the study's scope is limited, as it examines only one state, largely due to the lack of data from other jurisdictions, particularly in sanctuary states and cities that intentionally withhold such information. Officials from the Center for Immigration Studies, an organization that supports stricter immigration policies, assert that the PNAS study may have underestimated the number of incarcerated undocumented immigrants due to the constraints of Texas's data collection methods.
In an effort to address the lack of comprehensive data, the Federation for American Immigration Reform analyzed statistics from the federal State Criminal Alien Assistance Program. This program allows states to receive reimbursement from the federal government for the expenses incurred in the incarceration of undocumented immigrants. To qualify for these funds, states are required to confirm the immigration status of prisoners and submit detailed reports to federal authorities. The FAIR study, which focused on ten states with the highest populations of illegal immigrants, revealed that, on average, undocumented individuals were more than twice as likely to be incarcerated in California compared to legal residents. Similar trends were observed in New York, where the likelihood was also doubled, while in New Jersey, undocumented immigrants were nearly four times more likely to be imprisoned, and in Arizona, the figure approached five times. Texas exhibited the smallest disparity in incarceration rates between legal and illegal residents, a situation the FAIR authors attributed to stricter border enforcement measures that discourage criminal immigrants from settling in the state.
The recent arrest of eight Tajikistan nationals with connections to terrorism highlights the vulnerabilities present in U.S. border security. American immigration authorities had reportedly conducted background checks on these individuals before allowing their entry into the country; however, their ties to terrorist organizations were only uncovered later through intelligence monitoring of ISIS communications. This incident has prompted FBI Director Christopher Wray to issue a warning regarding the infiltration of "dangerous individuals" into the United States, emphasizing that such threats are part of a broader range of issues associated with border security, which also encompasses significant drug trafficking activities.
The surge in migration that occurred shortly after the defund-the-police movement gained momentum across the United States has undoubtedly exacerbated issues related to immigrant crime. The movement, which intensified following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, has significantly weakened law enforcement agencies in various regions, as many officers, disheartened by the climate, have chosen to resign. This shift has resulted in a reduction of proactive policing strategies, particularly in cities with large immigrant populations such as New York and Los Angeles. Additionally, the emergence of progressive prosecutors who advocate for bail reforms that allow offenders to return to the streets swiftly or who pursue lenient sentences for those found guilty has further diminished the effectiveness of crime deterrents. A notable instance of this is Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who faced public backlash in early 2024 for releasing several immigrants without bail after they assaulted NYPD officers, despite the presence of clear video evidence documenting the attacks. This incident culminated in a grand jury indictment of the migrants, prompting a nationwide effort to apprehend them.
The lenient approach towards crime, particularly when paired with sanctuary policies that restrict police cooperation with immigration authorities, has led to numerous instances of repeat offenders evading justice. Officials from the NYPD have criticized New York's sanctuary policies, which prevent law enforcement from collaborating with federal immigration officials, following a brutal incident in August where an illegal immigrant with a history of convictions and a deportation order assaulted a woman. The NYPD's chief of patrol raised a pressing question to the media, asking when the sanctuary city laws would be revised to permit notification of federal authorities regarding the deportation of non-citizens convicted of violent offenses. Tragically, some situations have resulted in fatal outcomes, such as the case of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Houston, who was allegedly abducted, raped, and murdered by two illegal immigrants previously encountered by border officials.
Recent disclosures from whistleblowers within U.S. Customs and Border Protection have revealed a significant lapse in the enforcement of a federal law requiring the collection of DNA samples from undocumented immigrants. This oversight has led to the inability to identify criminals, allowing them to be released back into the community rather than being detained. Border agent Fred Wynn emphasized the dire consequences of this negligence, stating that the ongoing failure to adhere to the DNA Fingerprint Act has resulted in preventable deaths among Americans.
The individual accused of murdering Riley had a history of multiple arrests but was released each time, despite being in the country illegally. At the time of the homicide, authorities in Georgia were seeking Ibarra due to his failure to appear in court following a shoplifting incident. A study conducted by the Government Accountability Office in 2018 highlighted that this issue is particularly pronounced in sanctuary states. In California, the average undocumented immigrant with a criminal record has six prior convictions yet continues to reside in the United States. A recent communication from ICE officials to Congress revealed that there are 662,566 individuals on an ICE non-detain docket, meaning they have either been accused or convicted of a crime but are not facing deportation. This group includes 435,719 individuals with criminal convictions and 226,847 facing pending charges, among which are 62,231 convicted of assault (including 15,811 for sexual assault) and 14,301 for burglary.
Advocates for immigration reform argue that the prevalence of serious crimes among immigrants is overstated, citing a decline in overall crime rates. However, this perspective lacks nuance. As noted by Jeffrey Anderson, the former director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, while the surge in crime that began in late 2020 may have reached its peak, violent crime rates still significantly exceed those of 2019, with urban areas experiencing increases of up to 73 percent, according to victimization data. Anderson emphasizes that the heightened levels of crime are not merely a product of public perception but a tangible reality affecting communities across the nation.
In the interim, while the media may downplay the situation, governors and public safety officials across numerous states have candidly discussed the necessity of reallocating funds and law enforcement resources to combat crimes associated with illegal immigration. This financial burden is a central element of a lawsuit against the Biden administration, initiated by 18 states predominantly led by Republican officials, spanning from Virginia and Tennessee in the east to Utah in the west, and reaching as far north as Iowa and Wyoming, over 1,000 miles from the southern border. Officials in Iowa, for example, report that they have had to increase expenditures by "tens of millions of dollars annually" to enhance law enforcement efforts targeting crimes committed by immigrants. They assert that the local population endures heightened crime rates, unemployment, environmental degradation, and social instability as a direct consequence of illegal immigration, despite the state's considerable distance from the southern border, which has turned it into a significant hub for trafficking activities.
In Montana, a state located far from the southern border, Mexican migrant gangs have infiltrated the region, taking control of the illegal opioid trade and contributing to a surge in overdose fatalities, particularly on Indian reservations. U.S. Attorney for Montana, Jesse Laslovich, remarks on the unexpected nature of this development, stating, "You’re as far north as you can get in the United States, and yet we have the cartel here." Following a visit to the southern border in early 2023, Montana's Governor, Greg Gianforte, expressed grave concerns, declaring, "The situation has never been more dire for our country. Human traffickers and drug cartels are profiting on the catastrophe that the Biden administration has exacerbated, with thousands of illegal crossings occurring each day."
Democrat-led California was not a participant in the lawsuit; however, it has faced its own challenges with rising crime rates associated with illegal immigrants. In 2023, the state allocated approximately $30 million to enhance the California National Guard's efforts in border drug interdiction, deploying around 370 soldiers to a task force that successfully confiscated over 60,000 pounds of fentanyl within that year, marking a tenfold increase over the previous two years. In the early summer of 2024, a collaborative operation between federal and state authorities dismantled a drug trafficking and money laundering network in Los Angeles, which was operated in conjunction with Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and Chinese criminal organizations.
Chinese gangs have established a significant presence in the illegal cannabis market in Oklahoma, taking advantage of the state's recent legalization of marijuana. While the intention behind legalization was to reduce drug-related crime, it has inadvertently given rise to a new black market where these gangs cultivate cannabis and offer it at lower prices than licensed retailers. In Oklahoma, it is estimated that around 3,000 illegal immigrant growers are active, with approximately 80 percent operating under the influence of Chinese organized crime. This illicit trade is valued between $18 billion and $40 billion annually, according to a ProPublica investigation. Additionally, there are reports of Chinese women being trafficked across the border to work as prostitutes for the laborers on these farms. The criminal implications extend beyond drug sales; a former Drug Enforcement Administration official highlighted the connection between marijuana trafficking and various forms of local crime, including gun violence and money laundering linked to fentanyl. ProPublica has documented a range of criminal activities associated with these illegal operations in Oklahoma, including violence, drug trafficking, money laundering, gambling, bribery, document fraud, bank fraud, environmental degradation, and the theft of water and electricity.
The inadequacies in border security have allowed foreign criminals to take advantage of a prevalent issue in America: retail theft. In recent years, there has been a significant rise in organized shoplifting, driven by states that have relaxed penalties for theft and implemented bail reforms permitting nonviolent offenders to remain free. This situation has not gone unnoticed by illegal immigrant gangs. During congressional hearings, officials from the National Retail Federation reported that groups of Eastern European undocumented individuals have established approximately 170 shoplifting operations across the country. These individuals utilize specially designed attire featuring oversized pockets to facilitate the theft of large quantities of merchandise. Additionally, gangs from Latin America have infiltrated the U.S. to steal valuable electronic devices, which they subsequently transport to central locations for export and sale abroad. Retail executives informed Congress that dismantling these extensive multistate networks has proven difficult, primarily due to the challenges in securing state or federal prosecution and cooperation against these criminal organizations.
Recent trends indicate that "burglary tourism" has increasingly involved breaking and entering in residential areas. Gangs from South America, particularly those originating from Chile, have exploited a Homeland Security initiative known as the Electronic System for Travel Authorization–Visa Waiver Program, which allows them to enter the United States without undergoing thorough criminal background checks. This has led to a surge in burglaries, as highlighted by a Fox News investigation that revealed significant fraud within the program, prompting its suspension this summer. These organized groups employ advanced technology, such as Wi-Fi suppression devices to disable home security systems, cell-phone trackers to locate homeowners, and counterfeit identification, resulting in break-ins across various locations, including Orange County, California, Oakland County, Michigan—where one incident netted $800,000—and Raleigh, North Carolina. The risks for these criminals are minimal; even when apprehended, they are often released quickly due to their lack of prior criminal records in the U.S., only to abscond before their court appearances. The porous immigration system has emboldened some offenders to intentionally get arrested at the California border, fully aware that they will be released into the country. This pattern of behavior has been corroborated by testimony from Orange County Senior Deputy District Attorney Bradley Schoenleben before Congress, who attributed the rise in such criminal activities to lenient crime policies and federal shortcomings in verifying the criminal backgrounds of Chilean Visa Waiver applicants.
A significant and alarming issue is the notable increase in criminal activities in the United States, which can be linked to members of notoriously violent Latin American gangs who are often escaping law enforcement in their native countries. For example, the individual suspected of murdering Maryland resident Rachel Morin is identified as a member of a Salvadoran street gang. After committing a homicide in El Salvador, he fled to the United States, where he subsequently assaulted a mother and her nine-year-old daughter in Los Angeles before traveling across the country to take Morin's life, according to police reports. This incident marks the second case within a year in Maryland involving the murder of a woman by illegal immigrants associated with Salvadoran gangs. Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler of Harford County expressed his dismay, stating that such occurrences should not be tolerated, emphasizing that the perpetrator did not migrate to seek a better life but rather to evade justice for his previous crime. This murder exemplifies a troubling trend, as evidenced by Texas's Department of Public Safety, which has compiled a list of the ten most wanted criminal illegal immigrants, all of whom are implicated in sexual offenses and violence against women and children.
The presence of illegal South American gang members in immigrant communities has become increasingly pronounced, as they often align with existing gang members and engage in criminal activities that exploit law-abiding migrants. This infiltration has long been a pressing concern for law enforcement. Studies indicate that illegal immigrants constitute over half of the membership in certain domestic Hispanic gangs, and the recent surge in migration is contributing to a new wave of gang affiliation. Law enforcement agencies in various cities have reported a rise in the arrest of Venezuelan illegal immigrants, many of whom appear to be connected to a notorious Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua. Last year alone, authorities apprehended 38 members of this gang across six different locations in the country. Additionally, a man associated with Tren de Aragua, which is known for operating prostitution rings in South America, was arrested for the murder of a retired Venezuelan police officer in Miami.
Venezuelan immigrants are contributing to a recent surge in criminal activity in New York City, characterized by thieves on scooters who swiftly steal valuables and escape. The orchestrator of this operation, which involved at least 14 individuals residing in migrant shelters, is a Venezuelan national who arrived in New York in 2023. He and his accomplices are part of a significant increase in illegal immigration from Venezuela under the Biden administration. In the fiscal year 2023, over 330,000 Venezuelans crossed the southern U.S. border, a stark contrast to the mere 2,800 border encounters recorded by immigration officials in 2017.
The extent of criminal activity associated with illegal immigration remains challenging to quantify, primarily due to a lack of comprehensive data and the reluctance of local authorities to provide transparency. In response to this issue, certain states are taking proactive measures. For instance, Tennessee has recently implemented a requirement for local officials to report crime statistics related to illegal immigrants to the federal government. Insights into the scale of this problem can be gleaned from a study conducted by the Government Accountability Office, which examined crimes committed by illegal immigrants who were later incarcerated in federal and local correctional facilities. This analysis, covering the years from 2011 to 2016, revealed alarming statistics, including over 1 million drug offenses, approximately 33,000 homicides, 500,000 assaults, 110,000 auto thefts, and 132,000 sexual offenses attributed to this demographic. Notably, these figures were compiled prior to the significant increase in border crossings observed in 2021, recent bail reforms that have allowed many offenders to evade detention, and the decline in public safety initiatives that followed the defund-the-police movement.
It is important to acknowledge that not every individual who enters the United States unlawfully engages in violent behavior. However, as highlighted by ICE whistleblower Wynn, the sheer volume of illegal crossings means that even a minor percentage of individuals committing crimes can lead to a substantial rise in overall criminal activity within the country. This reality underscores the complexities surrounding the issue of illegal immigration and its potential implications for public safety, necessitating a more thorough examination of the data and a commitment to addressing the challenges posed by this phenomenon.
Illegal immigration has emerged as a paramount concern among voters, often ranking higher than inflation in various surveys. Approximately two-thirds of the electorate express disapproval regarding the Biden administration's approach to this issue. In an attempt to address these concerns, the administration issued an executive order in early June aimed at tightening the criteria for asylum requests at the border. However, public response has been tepid, with only 40 percent of respondents in a recent poll expressing approval of this measure, likely due to the perception that it is an insufficient response to a pressing problem. This situation poses significant challenges for Vice President Kamala Harris as she navigates her presidential campaign.
The Republican Party is advocating for more comprehensive measures to tackle illegal immigration. Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee has introduced legislation mandating local authorities to collaborate with federal immigration officials to facilitate the deportation of criminal undocumented immigrants, with the stipulation that states failing to comply would forfeit federal funding. Following the arrest of an undocumented immigrant in connection with the murder of a Wake County sheriff in North Carolina, Senator Ted Budd proposed a bill aimed at deporting any illegal immigrant who assaults a police officer. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has intensified his criticism of Harris regarding immigrant-related crime, pledging to significantly ramp up deportation efforts.
Public opinion polls indicate that a substantial majority of Americans support immigration policies that are frequently characterized by the media as part of an extreme MAGA agenda. Despite media criticism of Trump's deportation pledges, a recent spring poll revealed that 60 percent of voters favor the establishment of a national program to deport all undocumented immigrants, with one-third of Democrats also endorsing this initiative. A critical first step in addressing this issue would involve the removal of thousands of known illegal felons and the cessation of local authorities' practices that allow the release of criminal undocumented immigrants back into the community. Such actions are deemed essential for safeguarding American citizens and ensuring the protection of those foreigners residing in the country legally.
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